Celtic has responded to the Scottish FA panel’s decision to throw out the club’s appeal against the red card issued to Auston Tusty at Tynecastle on Sunday following a VAR intervention by John Beaton after Steven McLean had made his initial decision to show the Celtic defender a yellow car…
The club’s short statement suggests that this matter is far from done, with Celtic believing that Beaton’s intervention is not consistent with the rules.
Celtic state the following in response to this afternoon’s news that the Appeal has been dismissed on the club’s official website.
Trusty will now have to sit out the game against Falkirk on Sunday afternoon at Celtic Park.
“Celtic’s appeal over the red card shown to Auston Trusty in the draw against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday has been dismissed, following a Scottish FA hearing today (Tuesday). Clearly we are very disappointed at the outcome of today’s appeal.
“The VAR Protocol requires that VAR only intervenes when there is a ‘clear and obvious error’. It is difficult to see how the original yellow card decision is a clear and obvious error and accordingly, VAR’s intervention by the refereeing team was not consistent with the rules.
“We await the written judgement but will be ensuring further discussions with the SFA on the matter as we seek to understand the rationale for this and other decisions.”
Here’s the outcome of the appeal as posted on the official Scottish FA website this evening:
Notice of Claim | Auston Trusty , Player, Celtic FC
Player: Auston Trusty (Celtic FC)
Match: Heart of Midlothian FC v Celtic FC on Sunday, 25 January 2026
Competition: Scottish Premiership
Offence: A4 – Denying the opposing team or an opponent a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity as defined by Law 12
Claim: Wrongful Dismissal
Fast Track Tribunal Hearing: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Outcome: Claim dismissed. Red card for sending off offence A4 – Denying the opposing team or an opponent a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity as defined by Law 12, is re-imposed with immediate effect. £650 Appeal Deposit to be paid within 30 days.
Celtic’s appeal over red card shown to Auston Trusty is dismissed.
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 27, 2026
And a quick reminder…
It’s the last few days of the Half Price January sale at Celtic Star Books. Every book ordered is now just £10 and p&p is only charged on the first book at £4.50. So ordering three books will cost a total of £34.50 and given you a £30 saving. Order at celticstarbooks.com/shop
All Books Now Half Price in the Celtic Star Books January Sale…
Please note that p&p is priced at £4.50 is only charged on ONE book so you can buy as many of our books as you like and the postage cost will remain the same. Why not expand your Celtic library today?
Don’t let this decision slide by, defend the player all the way, stand up to these bigots. Defend Celtic.hh.
Celtic plc will bend over and take it up the a@@. They are complicit in the wrong doing, gutless spineless bassas
Celtic FC and Celtic Fans have been under a constant threat and barrage of sectarian, bigotted and corrupt behaviour towards them from others since 1888.
We are not standing for it any longer.
The others being the Established Footballing bodies in Scotland, The Scottish Media, The refereeing bodies and Referees specifically.
I stated to the Celtic Star , in an article last week that ; with McClean in charge on the pitch and Beaton on VAR
Celtic had no chance against Hearts . This only the beginning , now that theGERS are now in contention to win the League . The flood-gates will now open and Celtic will be at the wrong end of decissions from nows until the end of the season . So , Celtic PLC for the first time in there existence stand-up to these Bigots and let them know we are watching every move and ready to take them to court , if necessary .
Not just was it not consistent with the rules, frankly, it was blatantly corrupt!
There is no question that we have not helped ourselves this season by hiring one bafoon, (Nancy) after getting rid of the biggest disruption in our history, (Rodgers)!
But this doesn’t excuse the SFA for their corruption.